MAYORAL CANDIDATES SPAR OVER EDUCATION

Dumanis’ pledge to fix city schools in her first term criticized by board president

District Attorney Bonnie Dumanis, one of four major candidates for San Diego mayor, seized a Tuesday night debate centered on public education as an opportunity to make a bold declaration.

“As mayor I will fix the city’s schools and I will fix it within my first term,” she said.

The surprising statement drew derision from some school officials in attendance at the University of San Diego debate but is the attention-grabbing move the Dumanis campaign has been lacking for months. She has firmly placed her hopes for victory on being the education candidate.

Education has become a focal point of the mayor’s race since Dumanis and state Assemblyman Nathan Fletcher each announced plans to give City Hall a larger role in local schools. City Councilman Carl DeMaio and Rep. Bob Filner until Tuesday had rarely broached the topic.

Dumanis, a Republican who has released a plan to expand the school board with four mayoral appointees, sparred with Filner, a Democrat, over her proposal after she described it as a way to “depoliticize” school operations.

“To say that the mayor’s appointments to a school board depoliticizes the process, come on, that’s ridiculous,” Filner said. “You have taken in your hands four appointed people, that’s taking it out of the hands of the people to elect their … officials. You want to take over the school system.”

The debate was hosted by the Center for Education Policy and Law at USD and U-T San Diego. It was moderated by Juan Williams, a political analyst for Fox News.

The two organizations also recently commissioned a poll on education. It found that two-thirds of city voters oppose a mayoral takeover of schools, yet nearly three-quarters of them believe it’s appropriate to use city resources to help public education.

The debate came as the San Diego Unified School District continues to grapple with significant budget woes. The district has considered school closures, warned of insolvency and sent layoff notices to more than 1,600 teachers to cope with the state’s fiscal crisis and negotiated raises for teachers.

John Lee Evans, the district’s board president, called the pledge by Dumanis the most extreme and unreasonable comment made by the candidates.

“We’ve been working for years on reforms,” he said. “The idea that someone could snap their fingers and fix everything is preposterous.”

The debate gave the candidates a rare opportunity to showcase their depth of knowledge — or lack thereof — on a single complex subject.

As he has throughout the campaign, Filner joked with Fletcher by offering him a job in his administration, this time as commissioner of education. But Fletcher had the last laugh. When Filner didn’t know what the state “parent trigger” law was, Fletcher explained that it allows parents to force changes at underperforming schools.

Dumanis also looked unsure when asked about the “last in, first out” policy under union-based hiring and firing practices, which calls for teachers to be laid off based largely on seniority. She paused for several seconds and then asked for Williams to repeat the question. She eventually said she preferred layoffs to be decided based on merit.

DeMaio, a Republican, spent much of his time saying the school system should move away from a tenure-based system.

“Performance-based (teacher) evaluations have to be our guide as we go through our schools looking for incentivizing and rewarding our best teachers,” he said. “And I hope that we can avoid layoffs because I don’t believe that larger class sizes are going to allow us to improve our educational student achievement.”

Filner, a former San Diego school board member, strayed from the group on several issues. He was the only one to go on the record in opposition to merit pay for teachers, saying it would be unfair and inaccurate to rate teachers solely on test scores. He was also the only candidate that came out in favor of Gov. Jerry Brown’s proposed tax measure to generate revenue for schools.

All four candidates said they support the school board’s push to get unions to agree to concessions to save jobs in the way of foregoing pay raises, extending furlough days for a third year and accepting changes to their health benefits.

Each candidate also said what they envisioned the next mayor should do for schools.

Fletcher, who recently left the Republican Party to run as an independent, said he would push to experiment with new ideas to help the education system rather than stick with the status quo.

“We’re going to see if it works and then we’re going to replicate it on our broader system,” he said. “And I think there’s a reluctance to try new things to say we’re going to just keep having the same arguments about the same five or six things and just club each other to death while our kids continue to not have the education they need.”

DeMaio, who went to a Jesuit boarding school on scholarship after his mother’s death, said he understands the value of education and will make it a priority.

“So I will take my responsibility as a regional leader very seriously and engage in a very proactive way in the dialogue on how to reform our schools,” he said.

Filner said he differs from his rivals with his school board experience and the fact that this children and grandchildren have come through the San Diego school system.

“If you want an education mayor for San Diego, it has to be Bob Filner,” he said.

Dumanis said her experience makes her the best choice for voters concerned about education.

“As the district attorney and as a former judge, I’ve seen firsthand what happens when our city schools fail us,” she said. “Sixty-eight percent of those in prison haven’t graduated from high school. So that’s why I proposed a bold and comprehensive plan to fix our city schools.”

Superintendent Bill Kowba said the event provided a long overdue conversation about public education and collaborations between the city and school district.

“This is a refreshing willingness to work with each other,” he said. “It’s better that we leverage our resources for the good of the community.”

The mayoral primary is June 5. If no one wins a majority, the top two finishers proceed to a November runoff.